Strength in Stillness by Bob Roth

Author:Bob Roth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

PILLAR three

CHANGE BEGINS WITHIN

What do you hope to get from learning to meditate?

I often ask that question before I give an introductory talk about the technique.

I hear responses like:

“I love my work, but it is incredibly stressful, and I don’t want to burn out.”

“I eat too much, probably because of stress, and I can’t stop myself.”

“I have become an anxious, fearful person, and I don’t recognize or like myself.”

“I want to relate to people better.”

“My life is going well and I have no particular complaints but I am always interested in learning more, growing more, seeing if there is more to life.”

Maybe one or more of those answers resonate with you.

I remember meeting with Ellen DeGeneres in the living room of her home in Los Angeles. I was there to teach her TM, and I asked her the same question I just asked you: What do you hope to get from learning to meditate? Why now?

“Bob,” she said, and then paused for a moment to think, “I want to maintain a permanent connection with the intelligence that runs the universe . . .”

“Whoa,” I thought to myself.

She waited for one comic beat.

“. . . and I can’t sleep at night.”

I chuckled along with her, but I often think about the truth in both things she said. Ellen encapsulated what so many of us want in our lives. Maybe you don’t ask outright for “the intelligence that runs the universe.” But you want to grow. You want to learn more, do more, and achieve more. It’s only natural. You don’t want to feel stagnant or stale in your work and relationships. And perhaps most importantly, you don’t want to feel stifled within yourself. But the reality is that we are pulled so often in so many directions, taking care of our kids, our partner, our work, it is easy to feel stuck—that we are, at best, spinning our wheels. We are working hard just to keep our head above water, to maintain the status quo. But we are not growing.

What holds us back? Any number of things: Exhaustion. Foggy brain. A shortage of good ideas. Or maybe we don’t know what to do, where to start. You can fill in the blanks there for yourself. The point is that meditating gives direct access to your own innermost, unbounded self. In so doing, it gives your body the deep rest it needs to eliminate the buildup of stress and tension that drains energy and undermines health. It makes available the clarity of thinking, the free flow of creative ideas, and the conviction of purpose to create changes in your life and in your world.

I have been teaching people to meditate for a very long time, but I always appreciate seeing the unique way it affects different people. Case in point: when I had the opportunity to teach actor Michael J. Fox. It started when I got a call during halftime while I was attending a New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.